My God, she was so beautiful, and I honestly wasn’t sure if she was truly aware. It was her frank honesty that took my breath away. In everything she did.
After her last rejection of my company at my quaint front-porch tea, I figured she truly was immune to my charms. As unbelievable as that was, I was thinking of giving up my pursuit. But not fucking now.
After seeing her reaction to watching my movie, there was no possible way I was letting this go.
Before she’d noticed we were in the room, I’d had at least thirty seconds to catalogue her surprising reaction to watching me onscreen. Chest heaving with deep breaths, her heartrate galloping at a racer’s pace, the sweat shimmering across the back of her neck and the edge of her hairline, but most importantly the scent of her arousal was too strong to hide.
She was turned on. By me. It took me a full minute to remember we were in a hurry to get to the girl at the hospital. And the most shocking fact was that my canines had sharpened to razor points. I’d had a hard time hiding them and my reaction to her.
Hunger. Pure, primal, feral craving. One that still ached inside me, making my gut clench with need. And unfortunately, made my dick twitch with need as well.
This scintillating witch was burrowing under my skin, and she was utterly clueless to the power she wielded over me. I stared at her, her head tilted back against the leather seat, her delicate fingers clasped in her lap. Her irresistible aura sang to my bones, beckoning me to inch closer. To smell and touch and taste.
“Devraj,” said Ruben, his gaze flicking to me in the rearview mirror. “Were you able to read her memories earlier when we dropped her off?”
Ruben already knew the answer to this. He was distracting me. Somehow, he’d sensed my sanity fraying as we silently rode along into the night. Smart move on his part. Grasping for control, I focused my attention out the window to the city blurring by, refusing to look at Isadora, forcing my own pulse to slow.
“She was too fragile then.” Finally gaining control of my buzzing senses, I added, “I’ll try again if she’s well enough tonight. But honestly, I’ll have all we need once we can interrogate the man in custody.”
“What man?” asked Jules, twisting to glance between Ruben and me.
“That’s what I wanted to tell you,” continued Ruben. “Our stakeout at Barrel Proof paid off. We captured a vampire right before your call. That’s actually how Devraj was able to locate Emma?”
“How’s that?” she asked me, peering into the backseat.
“It’s complicated,” I explained. “Suffice it to say that I was able to retrieve her location through a necklace of hers that our captive had.”
“What did you find out?” she demanded quickly.
“Nothing yet,” I answered. “Getting Emma to safety was the priority when I discovered where she was.”
“And,” Ruben added, “Devraj knocked our captive out cold with one punch. So there was that.” He caught my gaze in the rearview mirror.
I twisted my mouth in a wry smile, “Not a single regret. We’ll deal with him later tonight.”
“I wouldn’t worry about how he made you at the bar,” Ruben continued. “Experienced vampires pick up on signals other than magic. He might not have sensed your vampirism because you were nulled, but it’s not like you look natural watching the bar from the shadowy corners of the room. He sensed you were a hunter like him.”
Ruben was right. When I’d finally locked gazes with the guy, I couldn’t back down as a dominant vampire. That alone told him I was something more than his senses could detect. So he’d cut his losses and taken off. Only, he didn’t know I wasn’t working alone.
“Well, I don’t blame you for the violence.” Jules turned forward as we drove into the parking lot of the hospital. “I’d have been tempted myself if I were there. And you were obviously right that Emma was the priority.”
I finally looked over at Isadora and put a light hand on her arm, not wanting to scare her.
“Isadora. We’re here,” I murmured softly.
Her eyes opened, then she looked at me and did something rather uncharacteristic in my short acquaintance with her. She smiled at me. And my heart nearly plummeted into my stomach.
Christ. One smile, and I was devastated. Lost. Swimming in an ocean of what-the-fuck.
Ruben parked, and I took no time at all to unbuckle and get out of the vehicle, inhaling a deep breath of the warm night air.
“Come,” said Ruben. “We’ll take the back entrance. My men should already be guarding every entrance to the hospital.”
“And how are you managing that without causing a scene?” asked Jules.
Ruben just slid her a devious grin.
“Right.” She sighed. “Glamour. It sure does let your kind get away with a lot.”
“And protect the innocent,” he shot back.
We entered near a stairwell where one of Ruben’s men appeared out of thin air from where he’d been hiding in the shadows. “No one has tried to enter or exit here, sir.”
“Good,” Ruben snapped, then led us up three flights.
I kept to the rear, wanting to protect their backs. Unfortunately, that gave me a marvelous view of Isadora from behind. I tried to focus on mundane, unattractive things to keep my libido from riding me so hard. But even listing things like what was currently on my spice rack or the number of Italian cars I’d owned over the ages didn’t keep me from zoning in on her long legs as we made our way to the third floor.
I strode ahead to Ruben’s side as we walked down the hall to the girl’s room, 310. But then Isadora stopped in the corridor, looking down the opposite hallway.
Jules stepped up to her sister and squeezed her arm to get her attention. “What is it?”
She glanced at each of us, then said, “She’s this way.” She walked off, leaving us to follow. Jules followed first, then Ruben and I stepped in behind them.
As we rounded the nurses’ station, Ruben said, “We’re here to see Emma Thomas. We were told she was in room 310.” I sensed the tingle of magic in his words, using persuasion to avoid any problems if the nurse decided to deny us entrance.
“Oh, yes, sir,” the nurse answered automatically. “She’s right down there, room 303. We had to move her earlier.” Then the nurse turned back to the files on her desk like we weren’t even there. She wouldn’t even remember us once we left.
Ruben and I exchanged a questioning look. How would a Conduit like Isadora sense the girl had moved rooms? Could just be her psychic ability. Most witches had some level of clairvoyance, but then Jules hadn’t detected it. It just proved how powerful Isadora’s magic truly was. It was sexy as fuck.
Isadora was already halfway down the hall, approaching a partially open door. Then a vampire appeared right in front of her, grabbing hold of her shoulder in a forceful grip. Not even realizing it, I whizzed past Jules and was suddenly there, lifting his wrist and shoving him off her.
“She’s with us,” I growled at Gabriel.
His ice-blue gaze challenged me for about two seconds before his focus slid over my shoulder and he stepped out of the way. “I apologize. I’ve been on high alert in case her captors tried to come back for her.” Gabriel set his focus on Ruben and reported, “The police left an hour ago according to the nurse. We have her mother in a glamour-induced sleep inside.”
With a light hand on Isadora’s back, I ushered her through the doorway, fighting my urge to punch Gabriel for putting his hands on her. What was going on with me?
Ruben murmured with Gabriel behind us about the police visit, but I followed Isadora into the room where a woman was curled up in a reclining chair, sleeping with a blanket over her. She started to stir, but I whispered a sleeping incantation, and with a wave of my hand, the woman slept more heavily. Her hand on top of the covers curled around Emma’s heart-shaped locket, the broken chain hanging loose. A pang of relief swept through me, that we’d gotten Emma to safety in time, that this mother now prayed for her re
covery and didn’t mourn her death.
Isadora glanced from me to the woman. “She won’t wake?”
“No,” I assured her. “I’ll make sure Emma isn’t frightened when she wakes as well.”
Isadora then sat on the edge of the bed where Emma slept. The girl’s face was still pale, as was expected from blood loss.
Emma stirred, her gaze landing on me first. She gasped, fear rounding her eyes and stealing her breath. I waved a gentle hand over her, willing her to calm with a whispered spell in my native tongue, “Hum tumhare dost hai.” I pushed a pulse of hypnotic magic into the air to settle over her, to convince her we meant no harm. At once, she eased back onto her pillow, focusing her attention on Isadora.
Isadora glanced up at me then back at the girl. “Hi. I’m here to help you, Emma.”
“I know.” My magic worked on her, persuading her that we were friends. She licked her ashen, dry lips. “They can’t seem to make me feel better. I feel so sick. So tired.” Tears sprang to her eyes. “And I can’t remember. Not anything really. Except being in pain.”
I clenched my fists till the knuckles popped.
A vampire’s bite was mostly pleasurable with the euphoric toxins that released into the blood when fangs penetrated the skin. But the aftermath, once the toxins wore off, would certainly be painful. Especially if the vampire had been aggressive. Rough. Unless the vampire used glamour to ease the pain, which apparently these had not.
Glamour was a kind of persuasion that could be used to deceive the senses of others—what humans saw, smelled, tasted, felt. So it was a courtesy and a kindness to extend a glamour spell to a blood host so that they didn’t feel pain after they gave their blood. But these bastards hadn’t bothered. Not only were they violating these young women by stealing their blood, but they also didn’t care how much pain they caused their victims.
“I know,” assured Isadora, her voice soothing and kind. “But I can still help you. Will you let me try?”
The young girl nodded, tears streaming. Isadora lifted Emma’s hand in both of hers, whispering under her breath. The lights flickered and the IV shook as Isadora shifted the energy in the room and poured her healing magic into Emma. The young woman’s eyes closed, her mouth falling open as she tilted her head back on the pillow, a look of almost ecstasy as Isadora fed her more and more magic.
Her pale cheeks flushed pink, then her lips, the sallow complexion vanishing, replaced with a glowing vibrancy. Isadora kept on, murmuring softly as Emma received the energy Isadora channeled into her. The vampire wounds on her neck faded, the dark purple bruising vanishing first, then the raised and reddened puncture marks. Finally, when Isadora released her, Emma sucked in a deep breath like she’d woken from a nightmare, her eyes wide in shock.
“What happened?” She was confused, which is right where I needed her to be for one more minute.
I stepped alongside Isadora and placed a hand over Isadora’s where she held Emma’s. “I’m going to take a look inside, Emma. But it won’t hurt.”
Her brow pursed in deeper confusion, but she nodded all the same, still fully under my spell.
Perfect.
Without waiting a second more, I washed her with a tidal wave of magic, letting my voice fall into a hypnotic rumble. “Close your eyes, Emma, and show me where you’ve been for the past week.” I needed her fully entranced before I searched inside her mind.
“Of course,” she obeyed, robotically closing her eyes.
I did the same, hoping like hell everything hadn’t been erased. “Show me where your abductor has been keeping you.”
“Yes,” she agreed.
Just like that, I was in her head, stumbling into a world of darkness.
She breathed hard. She was blindfolded. I read for every scent and sound since I couldn’t see anything through her eyes. I could feel ropes or bindings of some kind on her wrists. Then the sound and scent of two men drawing near.
A muffled voice of one man, then another responded as a door opened. “Thirty minutes is plenty of time.”
Emma yanked on the bindings, but then the man crooned softly. Her body went limp with glamour before he punctured her neck and drank until she was listless and exhausted.
The fear riding Emma angered me the most since she remained blindfolded, but I’d listened intently as he walked from the door to her. It was a small room. The walls were close. She lay on a bed or mattress, but it must take up most of the room because when he moved, it wasn’t very far. Then a medicinal smell. Antiseptic which he wiped on her neck. At least he was keeping her from infection.
“Good girl,” he purred again in a low whisper before latching on again and drinking deeply...
When he was done, he left the room, talking again to someone in the hall. Just before Emma fell into a toxin-fueled sleep, there was a distant sound of bells chiming. Church bells.
Her memories were hazed with glamour, like smoke cloaking her mind. There were other jumbled voices. Even another woman, not Emma, crying in the night. Then the next coherent memory was her staring at a garbage dumpster in the alley where I found her.
I pulled out of her mind and whispered soothing words to help her go back to sleep and to forget about my invasion. About our visit. Guilt hit me in the chest, having to add another layer of glamour on top of the snowdrifts our vampires had left behind. Being inside her mind was like being twisted out of shape and confused beyond reason. Her mind was so malleable it had flowed wherever the vampires took her. Wherever I took her. So easily. That’s when it hit me.
“Come.” I motioned for us to leave.
Ruben had remained near the door in the shadows, observing and saying nothing. Much like Jules who stood next to him.
Isadora stood and wobbled on her feet. I caught her by the arm. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “It’s fine. Most of the time I have no effects after transference.”
I walked her toward the door, keeping a firm grip on her shoulder so she could lean on me. “But you don’t usually use this much energy in normal transference, do you?”
“No,” she agreed, “I don’t.”
She didn’t fight my assistance as we headed down the corridor. With a flick of Ruben’s hand, the nurses didn’t see us pass, nor would they remember us coming tonight.
After making it back into the parking lot, I helped Isadora into the car. Then settled in beside her in the backseat.
Jules slammed the door, the last one in, and twisted around in her seat. “What do you know?”
“She was kept blindfolded the whole time. Most her memories were wiped. She held onto just one. There were two voices, but I could only make out one of them.” I clenched my jaw.
“What is it?” asked Ruben.
I met his gaze in the rearview. “This wasn’t a blood orgy. It’s a blood trafficking ring.”
“Fucking hell,” he mumbled as he pulled us out of the parking lot. “Are you sure?”
“I will be as soon as we get to The Green Light.”
“What’s at The Green Light?” asked Isadora.
“We have someone who may be a part of the abduction ring,” I answered. “But I’ll only know once I can question him.”
Jules looked over at Ruben. “So he isn’t killing them. Was Emma violated in any other way?”
“No,” answered Ruben. “Gabriel persuaded the nurse to give him her medical chart. She was examined, and there were no signs of sexual assault. She suffers from malnutrition and severe anemia only.”
“Thank God,” said Isadora, turning thoughtful. “I don’t understand blood trafficking. Vampires can use glamour and their other assets. I mean, is it really that hard for you guys to find blood hosts?”
Ruben and I exchanged a look. I raised a brow for him to answer this one. Isadora already thought I was the most arrogant ass in the world, so I wouldn’t pile it on.
Ruben blew out a heavy sigh then muttered, “Yes and no. For guys like us, it’s far too easy.”<
br />
Isadora huffed out a breath, smirking at me and rolling her eyes. I just shrugged. Because what was I going to do, lie and say it wasn’t?
“I’ll bet,” said Jules, her gaze swiveling out the window.
Before Ruben could say something else to smooth over that giant foot he put in his mouth, I added, “But it can be very difficult for some vampires who are socially awkward. Or who built a reputation for being too rough. Or maybe they’re just lazy. Or for that matter, just get low ratings.”
“Low ratings?” asked Isadora, shifting her body to face me. “What does that mean?”
I glanced at Ruben who was shaking his head in annoyance. “Tell them,” he said.
That got Jules’s attention. Her head snapped back around. “Tell us what? Have you been holding out from your Enforcer?”
Ruben laughed. “My Enforcer doesn’t need to know all vampire business. Only when it pertains to you.”
“So tell us about these ratings. Ratings on what?” asked Isadora again.
Ruben tore his gaze from Jules. “There’s a sort of matchmaking app for vampires and blood hosts.”
“What’s the vamp matchmaking app called?” interrupted Jules, pulling out her phone.
“It’s not a matchmaking app as in a love match,” growled Ruben. “It’s for humans and vampires to find the right blood host match.”
“Is there a difference?” asked Jules, all ice-queen now. Ouch.
“And how do humans find out about this?” asked Isadora. “I’m assuming it’s by invitation only.”
“It sure as hell better be,” said Jules. “The knowledge of supernaturals living among the human population must always be kept as low as possible. Who came up with this app without my approval?”
Ruben sighed. “I did. A techy guy I know developed it for me with an encrypted code so that it could only be accessed by those given invitation codes.”
“Just like your club, eh?”
He slid his gaze to her, a silvery sheen glittering in his eyes. “Like you, Juliana, I like to keep things under my control.”
Don't Hex and Drive Page 11
